DIY Snack FAIL! Homemade Wasabi Peas

Wasabi peas are a favorite afternoon snack in our house. They're crunchy and light, and they pack a nice balance of sweet and sinus-clearing punch. Don't those peas up there look tasty? Ok, now take a look at our homemade attempt below!

Most recipes for wasabi peas that we found on the internet called for cooking your own peas and then roasting them in a very low oven, which quickly turns into an all-day project with only a few cups of peas to show for your trouble at the end of the day. We really wanted to figure out a quicker and more efficient process

After making and loving oven-roasted chickpeas, we thought making a version with frozen peas was worth a shot. We ran two cups of frozen peas under warm water to defrost them, and then spread them out on a kitchen towel to get rid of the excess moisture.

We tossed the peas first with a teaspoon of olive oil and then with a paste made from 1 1/2 teaspoons of wasabi powder whisked with 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar. We spread the peas out on a baking sheet and toasted them in a 350• oven for about forty minutes total.

At around the twenty-minute mark, we knew things weren't going to turn out quite as we'd hoped. The peas were steaming instead of roasting and becoming mushy. On top of that, you could hardly taste the wasabi on the few we tasted.

Only slightly daunted, we continued baking for another twenty minutes. The peas did eventually dry out and get crispy on the outside, but the insides were still chewy. They were also roughly the size of pellets and could only be eaten with a spoon.

Oh, and the wasabi? We couldn't taste it at all. Total bummer.

Any suggestions, dear readers? Should we try cooking our own peas, but possibly bake them at a higher temperature? Double the amount of wasabi? Have any of you attempted wasabi peas at home?

• For reference, this is the recipe we originally found online:Wasabi Peas from Gourmet Sleuth

Emma is the recipe editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer (Spring 2015). Check out her personal blog for more cooking stories.